Updated Academic Performance Index scores released by the state this week show that Richmond’s Kennedy High School scored better than originally thought but not quite high enough to pull itself out of probationary status under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

“I have mixed feelings about it,” Kennedy Principal Julio Franco said of the results Thursday. “In the area we thought we wouldn’t make it, we did, and that’s a relief, but in the area where we thought we did, we didn’t, so that’s a drawback.”

Data released a few months ago showed that Kennedy’s API score dropped 43 points from last year. But the state discovered errors in Kennedy’s and Pinole Valley High’s data submitted by the West Contra Costa school district. Corrected data analyzed by the state and released late Wednesday revealed that Kennedy’s API score actually decreased by 13 points over 2006 for a score of 549 rather than 519.

Pinole Valley’s API score changed from 647 reported in August to 670, a six-point improvement over last year rather than a 17-point setback. The school is not on probation under NCLB.

The district must wait until February for updated API results for several elementary schools, including Mira Vista and Sheldon, which also had inaccurate data submitted on their behalf. District officials said the mistakes were caused by human error, and they are working on fixing the problem.

The state uses complicated calculations to figure a school’s API score, factoring in the number of students who test proficient on standardized tests.

Kennedy officials had hoped the corrected data might show the school made its Adequate Yearly Progress and pulled itself out of probationary, or program improvement status, under NCLB. Kennedy is a year-five program improvement school that made AYP last year; had it done the same this year, it would have become one of the first high schools in the state to exit probation.

Franco said that although the news is disheartening, he’s still proud of students and staff members. The school has vastly improved academically over the past few years, and test scores among certain groups of students have doubled and even tripled.

Under state and federal law, high schools must meet certain “indicators” that include everything from a minimum number of students testing proficient in certain subjects to a minimum graduation rate. Franco said he thought Kennedy would meet the benchmark for API, which it did not. He also believed the school would fall short in the number of African-American students testing proficient in math, but Kennedy met that goal.

The school met 20 of the required 22 indicators, and it literally came down to just a couple of students not meeting goals.

“If we would have had 15 kids instead of 13 kids (testing proficient on the state-mandated exit exam) as English Language Learners, it would have been OK,” Franco said. “But it’s either 22 out of 22 or fail.”

More in News

"The easy part is buying the body cameras and issuing them to the officers. They are not that expensive," said Jim Pasco, executive director at the National Fraternal Order of Police. "But storing all the data that they collect - that cost is extraordinary. The smaller the department, the tougher it tends to be for them."

CityView Plaza, a huge office, restaurant and retail complex in downtown San Jose, was bought in July for nearly $284 million -- in cash -- by an affiliate of developer Jay Paul, which in December landed $157 million in financing for the site.